Nicole Richie's lawyer contacts county Sheriff's Department about serving her time in Los Angeles jail

A pregnant Nicole Richie pleaded guilty for driving under the influence of drugs last Friday prefers to serve her time in the Los Angeles County jail.

Photo: Nicole Richie's lawyer contacts county Sheriff's Department about serving her time in Los Angeles jail

Nicole Richie's lawyer contacts county Sheriff's Department about serving her time in Los Angeles jail

Richie's lawyer contacted the county Sheriff's Department earlier this week and indicated the reality TV star wanted to serve her four-day sentence in county lockup rather than a city jail, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Whitmore said he had no additional details, including when Richie might surrender to begin the sentence. She must complete it by Sept. 28.

At the county jail, inmates often service only a fraction of their sentence for a variety of reasons, including overcrowding and good behavior.

A call to Richie's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, was not immediately returned.

The county has a special women's-only facility in Lynwood. It is the same place where Richie's friend Paris Hilton recently completed a 23-day stay for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Richie, 25, was arrested in December for driving the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank.

The daughter of Lionel Richie, who confirmed earlier this week that she is nearly four months pregnant, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in a deal with prosecutors that helped her avoid a potential year in jail on her second DUI conviction (she had an alcohol-related conviction in 2003).

Richie was ordered to spend 90 hours, either in county jail or at any city jail in the county that would accept her. She would have had to serve the full sentence in a city lockup, while the county allows time off for good behavior.

In addition, many city lockups are small facilities that cannot provide the necessary medical care for pregnant inmates.